Marc Cabrera has nothing better to do than watch a lot of movies and television, and listen to a lot of music. Luckily, he has a job that pays him to blog about local and national arts, entertainment and pop culture. He can be reached at mcabrera@montereyherald.com.

DJ Kazzeo posted his playlist for the 7/27 Wednesday Wreck show. Worth tracking these down and listening.

Kazzeo has been recording podcasts of his shows, so I will try and update this post when he puts that up. In the meantime, if you can track down these tracks, it's worth a listen. Kazz always brings the heat.

I've spent a little over a week with my new Spotify account, and I am completely hooked.Spotify is a European music streaming site that was launched stateside earlier this month. With a free subscription, music listeners have access to a library of 15 million+ full songs, including new albums on their release date.To borrow from the company's parlance, it's like iTunes for free.I have the software set up on my laptop, and I've spent a few hours already just exploring music and setting up playlists. The music loads and streams instantly. Playlists can be assembled with simple drag and drop motions.Assembling playlists is fun because you are not limited to your home library (although you can upload and stream your personal music collection). The lists can stretch as wide as your imagination.I have four public playlists right now, which are very specific: Early '90s hip-hop, '80s funk/soul/hip-hop, '80s pop, and mid-late '90s hip-hop. A fifth playlist is assembled from DJ Kazzeo's Wednesday Wreck playlist.Anyone with a Spotify account can check out my Early '90s playlist here. In its current state, it features songs from Eric B & Rakim, Organized Konfusion, MC Breed and Brand New Heavies.For those of you who have not received an invitation, sign up at www.Spotify.com.And for anyone who has a subscription, my Spotify account handle is marcos.cabrera.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Well, I don't know how great it is, but I'm taking the plunge and trying out the European music streaming service Spotify for a month.

With more than 15 Million tracks available for streaming, it seems like a pretty nifty tool for music listeners. I applied for a free invitation at www.spotify.com. My impatience got the best of me, and I went ahead and purchased a premium subscription, which runs at $9.99 a month.So we'll find out what the big fuss is all about and maybe I'll keep you posted.